We say that Arminator2 is designed as a homage to the Yamaha CS80, it can not be considered to be a faithful emulation of that fantastic instrument but rather it’s aim is to offer patches that hint at the original instruments power.
Others say that Arminator is a stunning homage to the Yamaha CS-80. It’s one of the best emulations you’ll find and it’s completely free.
Version 2 includes the following enhancements:
The scaling of various controls has been improved, the LFO can now be synced to a KeyPress. KeySplit can be anywhere on a key across the 10 octave range. KeyTracking is now available on the LowPass and HighPass Filters. The Sine oscillator in the Line Amp can now also be a -1 or -2 octave sub. Mono Poly on individual lines and a Chorus effect has been added. Lastly line 2’s envelopes can be delayed by up to 500ms from KeyPress.
But none of that is particularly important unless you’re an existing owner. For anyone else all you need to know is that this is a fabulous CS-80 emulation with some great presets, for free, wrapped up in a rather cramped, small but functional GUI. The only slight weirdness is that it’s a 32bit plug-in for Windows only. But provided your DAW supports 32bit plug-ins or you use some bridging software then it should be fine.